♪ >> wonderful! >> that's it for us, thanks for watching. "early start" begins now.

the pentagon says the fbi uncovered between 20 and 30,000 pages of potentially between allen and jill kelly. the woman who triggered the petraeus probe after getting threatening e-mails from his mistress, paula broadwell. >> get this. "the wall street journal" reports the fbi agent who launched the petraeus investigation was removed from the case after it was discovered he sent a shirtless picture of himself to jill kelly. the agent who knew kelly sent the pictures before the investigation began. he was later removed from the investigation because supervisors were concerned the agent may have become obsessed

with the case. >> and there's more. a team of fbi agents searching paula broadwell's home yesterday. eight to ten agents brought cardboard boxes and searched both levels of the house. the fbi confirmed agents were there but wouldn't say what they were looking for. >> obviously, a lot going on here. we have two reports. chris lawrence of the pentagon and brianna keeler in our washington bureau. let's start with chris. chris, we're talking about two high-level government officials in a scandal, general allen sent to become the supreme ally commander for nato. first off, what's the latest on the investigation? you are hearing anything? what is going to happen to general allen? >> reporter: yeah, right now what i'm hearing is that general allen is here in washington wondering exactly the same thing. he was just 48 hours away from going before that senate confirmation hearing to take over nato. now that has been postponed. he is here and people are

wondering what's going to happen to him next. from what we've been able to determine from sources at the pentagon, basically they are looking at between 20 and 30,000 pages, most of them e-mails sent between general allen and jill kelly down in florida between 2010 and 2012. so right up until this year. i'm told the e-mails were inappropriate in nature and now the inspector general here at the pentagon is looking through those to see what exactly is contained. here's what secretary leon panetta said about the future of general john allen in a statement while he was traveling to california. he said, "while this matter is under investigation and before the facts are determined, general allen will remain commander of isaf. the secretary asked the president and the president has agreed to put his nomination on hold until the relevant facts are determined." what you don't hear in that statement is what followed in that the pentagon is asking that his successor in afghanistan,

general joseph dunford that his nomination be fast tracked and pushed along as quickly as possible. >> ayou mention the 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails. that's just, as i said, stunning. when we're talking about the petraeus side of this investigation, the time line is very important. adultery is a criminal act in the military. but officials say the relationship between petraeus and paula broadwell began after petraeus retired. but what about john allen? he is the current commander in afghanistan and he's married. what kind of jeopardy is he in legally? >> reporter: legally, he could be prosecuted under the uniform code of military justice. as an officer in the united states military. there's a couple parameter that's have to fit there. the first one being there has to actually be sex. it can't be just in appropriate e-mails or flirting or inappropriate behavior. they have to actually have sex. one or both of the people have to be married.

and it has to influence the honor and integrity of the service. i'm told by a source who's, you know, has some knowledge of this that that generally is not what happens. he does not expect there to be any criminal charges relating to adultery in this matter. >> that's very interesting. i didn't know that. again, in the stunning file of this investigation, the shirtless photos sent by the initial fbi investigator to jill kelly. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: basically, what i'm told and what we're learning is that that photo was sent before this investigation started. jill kelly went to this local tampa field office of the fbi because she knew an fbi agent there. that's how she got the contact and got the ball rolling. that agent then referred the case to a cyber crime unit and they took over the investigation. so the photo was sent before this investigation ever started. but at some point his bosses

down at the fbi felt that this initial agent was still too obsessed or too consumed by the case and they ordered him off it this summer. >> chris lawrence at the pentagon, thank you so much for clearing up what we can. i have the sense there will be a lot more to clear up in coming hours and days. >> let's keep digging. as for how the white house is responding, let's bring in brianna keeler. brianna, the president and congress have been scheduled this week to meet about the fiscal cliff. might these new details on the fbi investigation be a bit of a distraction for them? >> well, i would say certainly all of the discussion over this scandal takes up a lot of the oxygen in the news cycle, for sure. the fiscal cliff is going to continue to be a priority because it has to be. this is very pressing. something that's coming up here at the end of the year. i will tell you since this new news about general allen broke overnight, the white house has not commented on this. it's not really their way to comment on a personnel issue

like this. there is obviously the white house briefing today midday and jay carney is going to be absolutely peppered with questions over this. president obama has a full week focusing on the fiscal cliff. today he's meeting with progressive leaders, labor leaders. tomorrow he's meeting with business leaders. all that leading up to friday when meeting with the top democrat and republican from the house and nsenate to work this out. the other question has to do with how does this toafghanista? general allen, depending on how this plays out, is overseeing things in afghanistan. obviously, a very critical time. the president thohas to figure how he moves the remaining troops in afghanistan, combat troops out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. the one thing you can point to is the man -- general allen was already set to head out and move over to european command. and general joseph dunford who is also up for a confirmation

hearing on thursday to replace general allen in afghanistan, that is going to proceed as scheduled. >> brianna, i want to ask you about "the washington post." it has a rofeport speculating w may replace hillary clinton and who may move into the defense department. >> that's right. we're in the phase where we're wondering who moves into what position. "the washington post" is reporting that president obama is considering senator john kerry who is very familiar with senator kerry actually played mitt romney in his debate prep. so they spent a lot of quality time together recently. the thing is everyone has known that senator kerry had an eye on the role of being the secretary of state to replace hillary clinton. his name was mentioned back in 2008 for that role as president obama considered who to put in for the cabinet. i think right now some of the conventional wisdom says that u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice even though she's embattled over her comments on

benghazi, she may be the favorite for that role. so you've got some trial balloons floating around here. we know there are a couple deputies to the secretary of defense who are also being considered for the role. we'll have to wait and see exactly how it plays out. >> all right, brianna keilar, you have a full plate. >> yes. >> thank you very much. >> next hour we'll get reaction to general allen now being tangled in this scandal. nic paton walsh will join us with perspective there. >> and tom fuentes from the fbi will join us to talk about all this. >> then on "starting point," a man whose own sex scandal led to his down fall, former new jersey governor jim mcgreevey. jason chaffetz will way in and debbie wasserman shultz. >> man there is a lot going on today. you might not know this man. his software might be on your computer. john mcafee wanted for

questioning now in a murder case. we'll have the details. >> another bizarre one. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. the creator of mcafee anti-virus software is wanted in connection to a murder. >> police want to talk to john mcafee in connection with the shooting death of his neighbor. so far they say mcafee is nowhere to be found. richard roth following the developments. there are reports of tension between mcafee and the guy who is dead, mcfall. what do you know about that? >> it may come down to dogs, although there could be other reasons. look, he's not the main suspect yet. this is john mcafee, the pion r pioneering anti-virus software millionaire, sold it out in the

90s to intel. and his neighbor gregory fall had reportedly complained about the barking of mcafee's dogs and that they come on to his property. he turns up face up in a pull of blood, gunshot victim. mcafee in hiding, the police are saying they want to question him. he wasn't exactly living a suit and tie life down there, goatee, eccentric, entrepreneur type, allegedly had hidden in a cardboard box whether police came looking for him in april in belize. this is an island situation. he had hidden in a box, put sand on top of him. they found a lot of drugs, a lot of guns on his property. >> and some questionable dealings there as well. what do we know about that? >> well, he may be linked to people who the police want to question. he really had a lot of hobbies. he liked to fly in low altitude

open cockpit planes. he was very into yoga. he had a mansion in colorado. he had a lot of different interests. but one reporter or friend who talked to reporters back here and someone who talked to wire.com said they thought he was very likely to possibly end up dead within the year. they didn't get guy vibe from him. but again, no charges yet. >> strange, complicated life of his own, no doubt. richard roth, thaub very much for being here. >> it is 15 minutes after the hour. a lot of news going on this morning. christine romans here with that. >> a lot of news, indeed. a new twist to the david petraeus sex scandal. general john allen, top american commander in afghanistan, he's under investigation for sending potentially inappropriate e-mails to a woman named jill kelly. jill kelly is the woman in the petraeus case who said to have received threatening e-mails from petraeus' biographer and mistress paula broadwell. a massive and deadly explosion in indianapolis remains a mystery. there are new pictures of the neighborhood homes that were

destroyed in that blast over the weekend. simply devastating. dozens of other homes were damaged. two people were killed, seven others injured. a bomb has been ruled out. authorities say there were no reports of a gas leak prior to that explosion. the puppeteers behind elmo on sesame street taking a leave of absence over allegations had an inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy. he had a relationship with clash whether he was 16. clash said they did have a relationship but it was between two consenting adults. monday night football, the pittsburgh steelers beat the kansas city chiefs in overtime. they tied the game in a field goal at the end of regulation. the steelers were set up for the game winning three pointer in ot. the win could be costly. pittsburgh quarterback ben roethlisberger left the game with a shoulder injury after being sacked in the third quarter. >> pittsburgh holding their

breath, no doubt. >> all right. thank you, christine. 16 minutes past the hour. time for your "early reads." eyes wide shut. vernon lowe, "the washington post" reporter who co-wrote paula broadwell's book about general petraeus says he was dumb founded by their affair. he spent 16 months working on the book with broadwell wrote an op-ed posted last night saying "on rare occasions her good looks and close access would prompt a colleague to raise an eyebrow about their relationship. but i never took it seriously." >> it feels like there are 1,000 more shoes to drop on this story. the "seattle times," rescuers will continue their search for two missing men. they spotted the men last night but because of bad weather and wind, they had to leave. they spent a second night on the mountain. they reported on 911 that they were trapped in a blizzard. for an expanded look at our

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seeing volatility in the markets until the fiscal cliff is resolved. >> fiscal cliff and europe are the two big things that are going to dominate through the end of the year. every little fit and start in progress is something the markets are watching. you're going to see volatility or just nothing. you're going to see a real absence of movement on the street unless you get some action. this is what happened yesterday. the s&p 500 up a little bit. it was the second lightest trading volume because of veterans day holiday. we'll be watching the president at the white house meetings he'll be having this week. what kind of progress will we see in i think they're going to be very careful, you guys, about setting up markers publicly. and john is nodding his head energetically. any kind -- if it looks like we're not meeting the markers, it could be tough for negotiations and for the markets. another thing i want to talk about here is something that's faster and cooler than congress. a motor trend car of the year. this is really cool story. it is the first plug in electric luxury car ever to make -- the first time an electric car has

ever been selected out of a very strong field of 11, we're told, including the ford fusion, porsche 911, hyundai. the editor of "motor trend" said at the core it is a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel. it's one of the most fuel efficient cars they tested. how fuel efficient? 74.5 miles per gallon ordinary street driving. so it's all electric plug in. it seats seven. doesn't have an engine really. doesn't have this huge engine. 74.5 miles per gallon. $50,000 to $100,000. it is a luxury car. there is all kinds of like cool expensive add ins you can put in to make it more energy efficient. brings me to another energy efficiency story front page of "the journal" yesterday. the international energy agency said by the year 2020 the u.s. is going to overtake saudi arabia as the world's largest oil producer.

>> that jumped off the page. >> i know. we're finding shale gas, we're getting shale oil. the ways we're finding, the technology advances of this country sh the ways we're finding energy are new and they are really working at this point. en that would take the united states above -- a bigger oil producer than saudi arabia by 2020. that is the forecast. gas is the light blue. oil is the dark blue. >> cool. >> there you go. so speaking of energy -- >> thank you so much. next on "early start," new details on the general petraeus scandal. could it lead to the down fall of another general, the current top commander in afghanistan? he tries to end a war. we're going to be live at the pentagon. i mean if you're leaving the house right now, watch us any time on your desktop or mobile phone. gecko (clearing throat) thank you, mr. speaker, uh, members of congress. in celebration of over 75 years of our government employees insurance company, or geico...as most of you know members it.congress.

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breaking news. another four star general gets tangled in the petraeus scandal. details from the pentagon in moments. plus, the other other woman. jill kelly turns out she could be linked to two very powerful men at the pentagon. also, fbi agents raiding the home of paula broadwell. that is the woman who cost the cia director his job, the alleged affair cost him his job. welcome back to "early start." it's 28 minutes past the hour now. another big shoe droming in the sex scandal that cost david

petraeus his job as cia director. the man who succeeded him as commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, general john allen is now under investigation for alleged inappropriate communications with jill kelly. the general denies any wrongdoing. the pentagon says allen will continue his role in afghanistan while the matter is being investigated. jill kelly is described as an unpaid socially liaison at a military base in tampa. she is a petraeus family friend who triggered the fbi investigation after receiving anonymous threatening e-mails from the woman at the center of the scandal. >> that would be petraeus' biographer and mistress, paula broadwell. their extramarital affair began after petraeus retired and became cia director in september of last year. a team of fbi agents were searching broadwell's home in charlotte, north carolina, overnight. >> and we have two reports, chris lawrence is at the pentagon. brianna keilar is in our washington bureau. let's start with you, chris.

we're talking about two high level government officials ensnared in this scandal. general allen was set to become the supreme allied commander for nato. so now what's going to happen to him? >> that hearing is on hold. it was scheduled to begin in just 48 hours. general allen was here in washington ready to go. it's not going to happen now. at least it's going to be postponed. you know, these latest revelations do begin to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together. we know that some of the e-mails that paula broadwell sent to jill kelly involve warning jill kelly to stay away from some of the generals that she was socializing with. so when this broke, it was hard to understand how general allen fit into this. but now that secretary pa net why has come out and said that they are reviewing, you know, tens of thousands of e-mails between general allen and jill kelly, now some of the pieces start to fit together. here's pentagon spokesman george little talking about what's next

for general allen. >> general allen is entitled to due process in this matter. in the meantime, the secretary has asked the president and the president has agreed to put his nomination on hold until the relevant facts are determined. >> at the same time, they have asked congress to please push through general allen's replacement in afghanistan to get somebody else in that job as soon as possible. >> so, chris, we don't have any details on those e-mails, what's in them? >> no. they're just starting to look through them right now. you're talking 20,000 to 30,000 pages. what we know of the time line, this bombshell just got dropped in the pentagon's lap on sunday by the fbi. >> so let's talk about that. yesterday we were talking about the importance of the time line, of the petraeus affair. adultery is kracriminal act in military. but the relationship began after he retired.

what about allen? he is a current commander who is married. and these e-mails reveal evidence of adultery, could efface criminal charges? >> if there is actual adultery, yes. under the uniform code of military justice, if there's sex between an officer who was married or if the other person was married in this case they're both married, yes. it's possible he could be prosecuted. but i spoke with an official earlier this morning who said even if there was sexual contact involved, he does not believe that charges of adultery, criminal charges would be brought in this matter. >> all right. there is another bizarre twist here. we're finding out that fbi agent who launched this investigation was banned from working on the case after he sent topless photos of himself to kelly. do you know fwhig that? >> apparently that photo was sent before the investigation began. remember, paula -- jill kelly, i should say, started this by going to her local fbi field

office. she knew an fbi agent personally in that office. she went to him, told him what was happening with these e-mails. we understand that photo was sent to her before this investigation started. it's just that in the coursest investigation, his bosses felt he had become somewhat consumed by the case, too involved even after referring it to the fbi's cyber crimes unit. and so some time this summer his bosses took him off the case. >> all right, chris lawrence. so many moving parts. live at the pentagon for us. thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> chris doing a great job keeping track of this for us. it's a mess. all right. how about the white house reaction to all this? we want to bring in white house correspondent brianna keilar. so this week was supposed to be about the fiscal cliff in washington. i get the sense this might be a distraction now. >> well, certainly a sex scandal really sucks up the oxygen of the news cycle no doubt. the white house has not

commented, obviously, on the new development involving general allen. they don't tend to. these are personnel matters. but we will have the briefing today midday 12:30 eastern and jay karn ji goicarney is going questioned, no doubt. president obama kicks off a series of meetings to day. he is meeting with liberal and labor leaders tomorrow. he meets with business leaders. all of that ahead. a meeting with the top democrat and top republican from both the house and senate on friday. so he'll still be focused on that. but there is also this question of how, perhaps, this affects the president's afghanistan policy. general allen is set to depart as the top commander, top u.s. commander in afghanistan at a very critical time. president obama decides how to wind down the 68,000 american combat troops from afghanistan by the end of 2014. the thing is though general joseph dunford who has been selected to replace allen, he

will continue to have his confirmation hearing on thursday as allen was supposed to. so that is going to go ahead as planned, at least for dunford. >> another one of the favorite games in washington, d.c. figuring out who will be part of president obama's next cabinet. "the washington post" has an interesting speculation overnight about the succession that who will succeed hillary clinton at the state department. a little bit of a surprise here. we have a little defense department twist, too. >> that's right. well, a lot of people thought oh, maybe, you know, john kerry, senator john kerry. we know he has his eyes on the state department. that is right in his wheel house. but "the washington post" is suggesting that president obama is considering him to actually go over to the department of defense. now is interesting. the two men spent a lot of time together recently. you remember senator kerry was president obama's debate prep partner. he played mitt romney in all of that debate prep. that was hours and hours of time that they spent together.

i think at this point some people think that maybe susan rice, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. that she may be the top pick for state department. so perhaps this is another big position for senator kerry. but this is the time, as you know, john, of speculation and trial balloons. so you never really know. sometimes these are things that are just being floated out there. we'll have to wait and see exactly what happens. >> thank you so much, brianna keilar. it is a silly season when it comes to that type of thing. we'll get reaction to general allen being tangled up in this scandal. nic p tachlt on walsh will join us to talk about that. >> at 6:30 eastern, tom fuentes, former assistant director at the fbi will join us. >> then on "starting point" at 7:00 eastern, a man whosewn sex scandal led to his down fall, jim mcgreevey and congressman jason chaffetz will weigh in and debbie wasserman

shultz. >> paul ryan says losing in last week's election was a foreign experience. but in his first interview since his failed vice-presidential bid, he said he is not dwelling on it. >> i really have no regrets at all. it was an honor to be on this ticket. it's an honor that comes to very few people. it was a well-run campaign. we made this campaign about big ideas and big issues which is the kind of campaign we wanted to run. so we ran the kind of campaign we wanted to run. it just wasn't enough at the end of the day. we have to accept that. >> ryan says president obama's re-election campaign did a better job of getting the voters to the polls and won fair and square. four time nascar chapelon jeff gordon has been fined $100,000 and docked 25 points for intentionally wrecking clint boyer in phoenix sunday. that move sparked that right there, a crazy brawl between crews moments later in the garage area. gordon avoided suspension and

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i do the right thing. i don't take from the government. but i need the government to help me now. >> we go to bed at night shivering, wearing tons of clothes every single night. we have not seen one lipa truck come down my block. not one. i have not seen any on any of these blocks. >> wow. cnn's victor blackwell is live in queens where they're trying to clean up from one disaster while remembering another. i can tell you, i understand the level of frustration there. >> reporter: yes, after being hit twice. it's going to be a very cold and rainy day. so the physical cleanup is unlikely to happen today as the rain is forecast through the day. but there are scenes like this one up and down this block. this is beach 130th in the bell harbor neighborhood of queens. there are about a dozen homes that were burned after superstorl sasupe superstorm sandy hit. you can see cars melted and

homes burned to the foundation. this is something this community has seen before. yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the flight 587 disaster that plane, a commercial jet crashed into this same neighborhood just a block away in the month of november, a few months after the september 11th attacks. 260 people on the plane all killed, five people in this community killed. a community full of firefighters, cops, many of them retired. and the consequences of both disasters are not lost on this community. listen to what they told us. >> you don't find this type of tragedy happening twice, you know, in a lifetime nonetheless twice in the neighborhood. a uple people said that they think it might be cursed a little bit. >> reporter: and also you mentioned at the top lipa. we checked the numbers this morning just a few minutes ago. there are still more than 19,000 customers in this community across three-counties who do not

have power. a few thousand here reason the rockaway peninsula. and it will be another cold night. it has definitely been a cold morning. but the temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s. it is a cold, rainy day here in queens. >> so we started out here with three weeks. they're going on three weeks here without power. do we know what the problem is and when they'll get their power back? >> reporter: well, lipa has said several times and we heard this also from the local and state officials, that there is a problem between the customers and the company. there are some technical problems, some logistical problems that homes may not be able to get power back to them because there are problems with the grid. there are problems with the meters at the homes. so there may not be able to restore power because things have to be repaired at the homes, at the apartment buildings before they are allowed to kind of give them power back. >> those poor folks. that's, you know, not a good

answer for them. victor blackwell. thank you very much for that. john? >> thanks, z. a shake-up at microsoft. coming up, a top leader quits on the heels of windows 8. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

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. welcome back, everyone. 48 minutes after the hour. let's get you up to date with all the top news. >> it is a busy tuesday morning. thank you. general john allen, the man who

succeeded david petraeus, he is now being investigated in connection with the petraeus sex scandal. the pentagon says the investigation concerns alleged inappropriate e-mails between allen and a woman named jill kelly. she's the woman who triggered the fbi probe of petraeus. kelly says she got threatening e-mails from petraeus' mistress, paula broadwell. an executive shake-up at microsoft. the head of the windows and windows live operations left the company. his departure comes just after the launch of windows 8. he's been at microsoft since 1989 and considered heir apparent to the ceo. hostesses has shut down three striking factories and fired more than 600 workers. the company's chief executive says workers have been told they close factories if work stoppages kept them idle. he also said they would close the entire company if widespread strikes cripple business.

hostesses filed for bankrupt in january. kids are all right. national outfielders brice harper is your 2012 national league rookie of the year. he was the most hyped rookies of all time. he was on the cover of spor"spo illustrated" at 16, four years ago. angels michael trout was the al pick. he has 30 homers and 49 steals and scaled walls to make plays. he's also the mvp -- wait, roll that back. this is like -- this is sports verbage. he is also an mvp hunt. triple crown winner on miguel cabrera probably has that locked up. >> he is really, really good. in other words, he's really, really g the best infusion of young talent in baseball in generations. >> whether i do sports stories, john is like don't mess it up. >> thank you, christine. >> you're welcome. cold rain moving into the northeast and it could affect your travel plans. our most valuable player -- >> nice. sing it, john.

>> rob marciano just got a ridiculously phenomenal job. he's going to "entertainment tonight." >> i just found out this morning. i'm totally depressed. >> i'm sad as well. i won't miss the hours. but you guys and the rest of the team, for sure. that's next month. ya yeah, i'll be hosting "entertainment tonight" alongside nancy o'dell. temperatures are going to be in the 40s. now the temperatures are going back down. back close to freezing mark in some spots into the 30s certainly in new york city. a little chillier as you go syracuse. here's the cool front. it's going to be a nasty cool day. just getting over the appalachians right now. backside of it a little in the way of snow upstate new york. we'll see lake effect and snow coming through as well. but this is more of a gentle rain. this is your classic fall, raw cold rain. and i guess we're due. boston, you'll see delays from

this. the low ceiling certainly. a little bit in the way of wind. rain and low clouds cross parts of philly. behind that is pretty nice. mild across the midsection of the country. across the southwest, we're looking at some rain. it is the season for that as well. here are your temperatures, 41. i mentioned the miserable conditions in new york city. 58 degrees, a bit of a chill in the air in atlanta. los angeles, 80 degrees. boy. >> looks nice, doesn't it, man? >> that's nice. >> seriously, thank you, rob. congratulations. it's great news for you. >> thank you guys. see you in a bit. >> all right. 52 minutes past the hour. coming up, return of the jedi. a navy reservist surprises his little boy star wars style. it's going to bring a tear to your eye. come back.

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welcome back, everyone. 55 minutes after the hour. we're taking a look at the top cnn trends on the internet this morning. >> president obama channeling his inner beyonce. a video posted by a couple on youtube. this happened at a stop that president obama made at his campaign offices in august. take a look. >> i just got engaged yesterday. >> nice. >> it was to someone who works in analytics. >> so i'm responsible? >> you're responsible. >> where is he? >> he is probably over at analytics. >> what is his name? >> matt. >> where is matt? matt, come over. >> i really needed to take care of this. >> yeah. >> i'm stressing here a little bit. >> five years.

>> yeah. >> i love that. that is universal now, right? >> all right. i am your father. another extremely touching video on youtube. this is what happened. a little boy in witch take, kansas, thought he was having a light saber battle with his cousin at his fifth birthday party. it was really his navy reservist dad dressed as darth vader. check it out. >> get him. you got him! you got him. take his mask off. >> daddy! >> that is awesome. the father had been in training in california. that is awesome. it's like our other top cnn trend go to cnn.com/trends. >> general petraeus giving the

poise some post election material. >> how about that cia director general petraeus? yeah. how about that? well, allegedly had an affair with his biographer which means from now on he'll only be having sex with his auto biographer. thank you very much. >> i hope everybody went out and hugged a veteran unless your name is paula broadwell. then you shouldn't be hugging anybody. this broadwell woman met petraeus in afghanistan in 2006 when she was embedded with his unit and then later -- don't get ahead of me on these. >> civilians on the government dime general petraeus. you work for the cia not the

tsa. a joke! >> all right. "early start" continues right now. >> breaking news in the national security sex scandal. another powerful general, the top commander in afghanistan, now under investigation for his conduct. >> and the fbi agent who launched the petraeus probe, he's now under investigation over inappropriate pictures sent to a woman involved in the scandal. >> plus, the original other woman, paula broadwell, her home, the subject of a late night fbi raid. so many layers to this story, folks. we have them all for you. good morning to you. welcome to "early start." great to see you. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. another four-star bombshell in the david petraeus sex scandal. this morning, there's word that

the commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, general john allen, is under investigation. the pentagon says the fbi has uncovered uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of potentially inappropriate e-mails and other correspondence between allen and jill kelly. she is the florida woman who triggered the original petraeus probe after getting threatening e-mails from petraeus' mistress, paula broadwell. >> "the wall street journal" reports the fbi agent who launched the petraeus investigation is himself under investigation, in part because he had sent shirtless pictures of himself to jill kelley. the agent who knew kelley allegedly sent the pictures before that investigation even began. he was kept away from the petraeus probe because supervisors were concerned the agent may have become obsessed with the case. and this news, the fbi paid a visit to paula broadwell's home overnight. a team of agents spent nearly five hours searching the house in charlotte, north carolina.

no word on just what they were looking for. >> so we have team coverage for you on this. cnn's chris lawrence is at the pentagon. nick paton walsh is in beirut and brianna keilar is in our washington bureau. we're going to start with chris. we're talking about two high-level government officials ensnared in this scandal. general allen was set to become the supreme allied commander for nato. what is going to happen to him now? >> that hearing has been postponed. general allen, we're told, was already in washington, had already traveled here. that hearing was supposed to begin in just about 48 hours. now, the pentagon has asked to postpone that. right now, the inspector general is poring through between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of e-mails, allegedly inappropriate contact e-mails between general allen and jill kelley. the pieces somewhat now starting to fit together. because we know that some of the e-mails that paula broadwell sent to joe kelley sort of warned her to stay awa from some

of the generals that paula broadwell accused her of being involved with. now that these names sort of are coming together, we're getting a better sense of what happened. and here's pentagon spokesman george little talking about what's next for general allen. >> general allen is entitled to due process in this matter. in the meantime, the secretary has asked the president, and the president has agreed, to put his nomination on hold until the relevant facts are determined. >> so, while they want to keep general allen in his position for right now, they have also asked that the hearing for his replacement be quickly moved to the senate. zoraida? >> have we heard from general allen at all? >> only from what we've heard from the pentagon, from sources at the pentagon, who say he disputes any wrongdoing in this matter. >> all right. so yesterday we were talking about the importance of the time line. this is of the petraeus affair.

adultery is a criminal act in the military. but officials say the relationship between petraeus and broadwell actually began after he retired. but what about allen? he is a current commander. he is married. if these e-mails reveal evidence of adultery could he face criminal charges, as well? >> if there was actual sex between a married officer and someone else then yes, it's possible. although i talked to a source earlier today who says he believes in this case, even if there was adultery, he's not saying there was, but he does not feel that there would be a criminal charges brought against general allen. >> all right. and we have another bizarre twist in this story. we know paula broadwell's home was searched. actually we're going to deal with this one first. do you have any idea what the agents found or what they were searching for? and then i'll get to the other crazy question. >> no idea what they found. we know they carried out boxes containing papers, they searched two levels of the home. this is a very upscale neighborhood where she lives. it's also the site where the

showtime series "homeland" is filmed. we can imagine that since they had found some classified information on her computer earlier, they may have been going back to look to see what else was there. >> okay. and here's the bizarre twist here. there was an agent who launched this investigation. he sent topless photos of himself to kelley. what else can you tell us about that? >> apparently that photo was sent before this investigation again began, zoraida. what this was, was this agent knew jill kelley. they were personal friends. and that's why jill kelley went to him. went to her local tampa field office when she started getting these e-mails, which later turned out to be from paula broadwell to say here, here's a problem. he then referred the case on to the cyber crimes unit, because he doesn't work in that area. but apparently he kept, i guess, poking around the investigation, and at some point they told him, or he was told, you know, no longer come to meetings, you're not involved in this case,

basically. >> good thing we have you this morning to sort all of this out for us. chris lawrence live at the pentagon. thank you very much. >> all right let's bring it back to general john allen now. now the man currently overseeing america's way out of afghanistan is tangled up in this scandal. general allen denied that he's engaged in any wrongdoing, but it is certainly, at the very least, a distraction. nick paton walsh was recently on the ground with troops. nick, why don't you tell us what you know about general allen the person. >> well, he was a remarkably astute man, able to grasp what was really happening in afghanistan, and where the real problems are there. so much of his job was, in effect, public relations, selling the war and his leadership of it as success. but it was clear from talking to him that he could also understand what the enduring challenges were really going to be there. i think it's also important to point out people talk about historian, tradition in this sort of thing but he was also very much aware of the humanity behind a conflict like this, of the need to respect cultures.

also, he was a man who inspired great loyalty from many of his colleagues. i remember one aide who served lengthy tours in iraq saying that if a call came again from general john allen he would certainly have taken it. in fact, did go and serve in kabul. he stated one anecdote when they were together in iraq, landed close to the dining facility where they were eating and a younger soldier left beneath the table for cover, general allen stayed in his seat and leaned down underneath the table and said, son you're not going to win the war from down there. a key example of why he inspired that sort of loyalty from those close to him. >> for the time being he's going to stay doing what he is doing in afghanistan. but with the investigation going on, it's got to be a distraction. >> certainly. i mean, practically he had a few months left there. this is a war, the conduct of which strategically has been decided in washington some time ago. in many ways he was there to clean up the mess that a

decade-long campaign has left afghanistan in in many ways. in fact, fascinatingly, despite how bad it was going on on many fronts, he was a difficult man to dislike. certainly we're now in a situation where the last three isaf commanders of american forces there, stanley mcchrystal, sacked on inappropriate comments to a reporter, general david petraeus, promotion to cia, but then resigned after a extramarital affair, and then general john allen. many people asking questions this morning. >> nick paton walsh thanks so much for your perspective on this growing scandal, if that's what it is. >> for how the white house is is responding let's bring in brianna keilar. we've been talking about the fiscal cliff for so long know. the president and congress are scheduled this week to talk about this. you would imagine, though, this is a huge distraction. >> it is a distraction. of course a sex scandal takes up a lot of the air in the news cycle. but the president and congress still focused on the fiscal cliff. congress returns to town, as you know, zoraida, today.

and president obama begins a series of meetings. today he meets with liberal leaders, as well as labor leaders, and then tomorrow he meets with business leaders. friday he'll be meeting with the top democrat, the top republican in both the house and the senate, to talk about the fiscal cliff and how to move forward. of course, the other issue, and you heard nick touch upon this, is this transition of power in afghanistan. general allen was already set to depart as -- as far as being the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. and this is a critical time, as president obama figures out what to do with those remaining 68,000 combat troops, u.s. troops set to leave afghanistan by the end of 2014. the thing is, as the hill, as democrats and republicans come back to the hill this week, the confirmation hearing for general joseph dunford who is set to replace general allen, that was scheduled for thursday, as well. and it will go ahead as planned, even though the confirmation

hearing has been delayed. >> brianna "the washington post" has a report speculating who may replace secretary of state hillary clinton, and also who may move in to the defense department. what can you tell us about that. >> that's right. so a lot of people, zoraida, as you know, were talking about senator kerry, perhaps he might be someone who would replace hillary clinton. everyone knew that this was a position that perhaps he had his eye on in 2008, and hillary clinton took that position. but, "the post" is reporting that president obama is considering senator kerry for the post of defense secretary. so that's something new. keep in mind, this is kind of the time of speculation and trial balloons. but there's a lot of conventional wisdom, a lot of folks who think that it may be u.s. ambassador susan rice. the ambassador to the u.n. who may replace hillary clinton. that she is very much favored by president obama for the position of secretary of state. even though she is embattled over her remarks on benghazi. remember she initially said it was a spontaneous attack when it

now seems that perhaps that was not the case, and perhaps the administration should have known things at that point. but, yes, this is what we're hearing. of course we're going to have to wait and see how all of this plays out because it's kind of a name game right now. >> brianna keilar live at the white house. thank you very much. we'll have much more on the scandal that has now exploded. at 6:30 eastern, cnn contributor tom fuentes, former assistant director at the fbi will join us. and then on "starting point," a man whose own sex scandal led to his ultimate downfall, jim mcgreevey, also congressman jason chaffetz along with debbie wasserman schultz. and if the news isn't weird enough for you this morning, a rich silicon valley entrepreneur caught up in a murder mystery in belize. coming up, why police want to talk to security software pioneer john mcafee. [ female announcer ] a classic meatloaf recipe from stouffer's

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selsun blue. got a clue? get the blue. welcome back to "early start." the creator of mcafee anti-virus computer software is now wanted for questioning in a murder case. >> police in belize say they want to talk to john mcafee in connection with the shooting death of his neighbor gregory falls but say so far mcafee is nowhere to be found. richard roth is following developments from new york this morning. richard, there are reports of tension between mcafee and his guy, gregory fall. what can you tell? >> this seems to be a morning with a lot of interesting stories. >> yes. >> curious mysteries. so, fall was his neighbor. it appears that there may have been a lot of reasons that they didn't like each other, but he's being looked for by the police, not an official suspect yet. paul was found shot in the head, lying face up in a pool of blood. but dogs could have been at the

heart of this. the neighbors, the victim, was a building contractor who had moved there to retire from florida. he had complained reportedly about barking dogs on mcafee's property, dogs that may have come on to his property. there was a computer missing from fall's property and a cell phone. this is john mcafee, who was definitely eccentric, an entrepreneur, had a lot of varied interests. this was him in a recent interview with reuters. >> i have an officer living on my cpound. it makes me feel safe. makes me feel safer to know that all the criminals that might want to rob me know there's a policeman living there. and they think there's something wrong with that. >> mcafee worried about security. in april, police had raided his property, and had arrested him on charges, suspicion of drug paraphernalia equipment, methamphetamines, he denied it. charges were then dropped. he was suing the government. he moved there to just delve into antibiotics from jungle

trees. he had a lot of varied interests. yoga, low-flying open cockpit planes. we don't know what exactly happened so far to mr. fall and who murdered him. >> bizarre, crazy story. richard roth, thank you so much. we appreciate that. 15 minutes past the hour. we're following breaking news this morning. a stunning development overnight in the david petraeus sex scandal. general john allen, the top american commander in afghanistan, is now under investigation for sending potentially inappropriate e-mails to jill kelley. she's the florida woman in the petraeus case who is said to have received threatening e-mails from petraeus' biographer and mistress, paula broadwell. the puppeteer behind elmo obsessmy street taking a leave of absence over allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy. he is now 23, claims he had a relationship with clash starting when he was 16. clash issued a statement saying it did have a relationship but it was between two consenting adults.

monday night football, the pittsburgh steelers beat the kansas city chiefs in overtime 16-13. the chiefs tied the game on a field goal at the end of regulation. but an interception set the steelers up for the game-winning three-pointer in overtime. the win could be costly. pittsburgh quarterback ben rths left the game with a shoulder injury after being sacked in the third quarter. let's hope he's okay. 17 minutes after the hour right now. unless you've mastered human flight, the airlines got you. but you may not be stuck or have to be stuck with all those enraging fees this holiday season. >> airlines have projected to make over 11% more revenue than last year. and it is from fees alone. >> yes. >> is there a way around this? >> that's what i can tell you, if you can't pack light you've got to pack smart. this is a new business model for the airlines. there's a charge for your ticket and all the other charges on top for your flight, and that's how they're making more money. airline fees set to top $36 billion this year. they're charging you for extra

things like snacks, a seat, your seat assignment, to luggage. spirit airlines chose election day to hike its luggage fees. the cost checking your bag at the gate went up from $45 to $100 on november 6th. carry-on bag fees went up between $5 and $10. many airlines charge more for seats close to the front of the plane, for more leg room or even charge you to choose your seat in advance. i recently paid not to sit in a center seat. i paid to sit either in an aisle or window. that was extra. here's what you need to do. check your airline's policy before you book. also go to smartertravel.com to see a comprehensive list of fees by airline. try to be conservative when you're packing so you don't get hit with fees for excess weight. don't bring a lot of stuff. finally, you might want to consider wearing your luggage. there are some inventions like this thing called the rufus roo jacket. it transforms from a suitcase into a coat. allowing you to carry a lot more hand baggage on board without paying the fee. it's got lots of pockets and all

these cool places to hide things. you're never going to find your future spouse wearing this. >> that sin credible. >> does this luggage make you look fat? >> yes, yes it does. it makes you also look cheap. >> that's a great way -- >> you take it off, you put it in the bin to scan and then you put it back on >> that is a brilliant idea. >> i saw richard quest wearing one of these one time. he was packing like everything but the kitchen sink so he could avoid the fees and it works. but until they charge you to wear a cape full of all your stuff. that's what's next. >> which they will. i paid $3 for water. i couldn't believe it. >> i'll tell you, i just want the priority. i want to know how much it's going to cost. the other thing is, i travel with children. so i have a lot of stuff i'm bringing on a plane. most airlines are actually very good. they'll let me take a car seat and won't charge me. i don't know if that's official or legit or just the nice person at the counter who doesn't want to pile on. but my flights end up costing a lot more than the average

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morning. >> this volatility in the markets until this fiscal cliff thing is resolved. >> they're a little distracted. >> but i think you're absolutely right. between europe and the fiscal cliff this is going to be -- these will be the two things driving markets through the end of the year. i think that's even going to make it very volatile and unpredictable or just going to be dead. not quite sure how it's going to play out. it's been rough. yesterday was little changed. very low volume day, but it was a holiday. veterans day holiday. we're going to be looking at the meetings that the president had with labor leaders. meeting with the white house. meetings with congressional leaders. i think it's very important for both sides to be very careful about the mark es they put out publicly. i think they've hinted at this. you know, when speaker boehner said i don't want to put anybody in a box, they don't want to have some framework out there the markets are going to get all concerned about. but inside wall street, different analysts and investment houses are saying they're not certain that a deal is -- the kind of deal that wall street wants is going to

actually get done. so that's still something to really be concerned about. a lot of comparisons going on in the debt ceiling debate of 2011 that started all this. that was a very hard time for investors. and for the public. now something that's a little more fun, faster and cooler, motor trend car of the year, this was a really cool tesla model "s" all-electric plug-in luxury car. the first time an electric car has been elected. eleven finalists. and this was a pretty solid field. the ford fusion, porsche 911. the hyundai azera and the editor at motor trend said at its core the tesla model "s" is simply a damned good car you happen to blug in to refuel. seats seven. in part because it doesn't have a big, bulky combustion engine. average 74.5 miles per gallon equivalent. that's ordinary street driving. does much better out on the open road. 50 grand to 100 grand. so not exactly within the reach

of everyone. but interesting development for motor trend. first all-electric plug-in. >> what's the one thing we need to know about our money? >> please check your portfolio for dividends paying stocks. jpmorgan says there's a growing feeling on wall street that taxes on investments will rise next year. higher dividend and capital gains taxes next year could affect how your portfolio performs. please check for those dividend yielding stocks. some people have had them for safety. you have a lot of people who are older who have them in their portfolio because they get a good yield, a return. you're not getting that return in the bank. so this now is a good time to take a very good look at what you have in there. >> all right. thank you christine. 26 minutes past the hour. next on "early start," bombshell. now details in the general petraeus scandal. could it lead to the downfall of another general? the current top commander in afghanistan, as he tries to end a war. we're going live to the pentagon. (splashing)...

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breaking news. another four-star general gets tangled up in the petraeus scandal. we will have details from the pentagon in moments. plus, the other, other woman, jill kelley. there's her picture there. turns out she could be linked to two very powerful men at the pentagon. also fbi agents raiding the home of paula broadwell, the woman who cost the cia director his job. a lot going on this morning, everyone. welcome back to "early start" i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. 30 minutes past the hour here. we begin with breaking news. the sex scandal that cost david petraeus his job as cia director takes a shocking turn. the man who succeeded petraeus as commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, general john allen, is now under investigation for alleged inappropriate communications with jill kelley. >> the pentagon says allen will continue his role in afghanistan while the matter is being

investigated. but his nomination to become nato's supreme allied commander is on hold. jill kelley is the florida woman who triggered the fbi investigation after receiving anonymous threatening e-mails from the woman at the center of the scandal. >> okay. that would be petraeus' biographer and mistress, paula broadwell. their extramarital affair reportedly began after petraeus retired and became cia director. that was september of last year. a team of fbi agents were searching broadwell's home in charlotte, north carolina. that was overnight. >> there is a lot going on here. we have three reports. chris lawrence at the pentagon, brianna keilar at the white house. and tom fuentes, former assistant director at the fbi and now a cnn contributor. we're going to start with chris lawrence at the pentagon. you've been all over this story this morning. we're talking about two high-level government officials ensnared in this scandal. and you know, general allen was set to become supreme allied commander in nato. what's going to happen to him now? >> that's right, john. he was just 48 hours away from

beginning his senate confirmation hearings. in fact, general allen had already come here to d.c. to start preparing for those hearings. now, the pentagon has asked the senate to delay those hearings indefinitely while the inspector general goes through these 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails to determine exactly what inappropriate contact may have been taking place there. also, we're learning that basically, the pentagon wants to fast track general allen's replacement in afghanistan. and we're starting to get a better picture of how all this fits together. remember, general david petraeus used to be based in tampa, as head of central command. general john allen, before he went to afghanistan, was also based in central command. that is where jill kelley lives. that is where she works with some of the military families there. so there is this connection starting to come together and we're starting to get a better sense of how it all fits.

>> the time line has been important in the petraeus side of the scandal, because adultery we hear is a crime in the military. but officials say the relationship between petraeus and broadwell began after he retired from the military. but general john allen appears to be a different story here. he is a current commander in afghanistan. he's married. could he face any kind of criminal jeopardy here? >> under the uniform code of military justice, if there was sex outside of marriage, then, yes, he could be prosecuted for adultery. but right now, all we have is the inappropriate contact contained in these e-mails. general allen has said that he's disputing any, you know, accusations of wrongdoing. so we'll have to see exactly what happened. but beyond that, i spoke to a source earlier this morning who said, you know, even if this was adultery, and he's not saying it is, but even if it was, he just does not think that there would be criminal charges brought against general allen for adultery. >> all right. as if all this activity isn't enough already, there is more

news overnight. news that the fbi investigator who was really at the beginning of this whole search and investigation had connections to jill kelley himself and had sent topless photos of himself to jill kelley. that's just bizarre. what can you tell us about that? >> it is. then when you start to piece it together, john, it does make a lot more sense. in that we're told that this photo was sent before this investigation even began. and that this agent and jill kelley knew each other. they were friends. that's why she went to her local tampa field office of the fbi when she started getting these e-mails, which we later learned were from paula broadwell. she knew the agent. she had a personal relationship. so she took the e-mails to him. he then turned them over to the cyber crimes division, because he didn't work in that part of the fbi. didn't have anything to do with it. it was only later that sort of we're told he started poking his nose around the investigation, and basically was told to, you know, step back. >> all right. chris lawrence at the pentagon.

a lot of twists and turns here. thanks for being on top of them all for us. >> as for how the white house is responding, let's bring in white house correspondent brianna keilar. the president and congress have been scheduled this week to meet about the fiscal cliff. might these new details have a bit of a distraction for them? >> i think certainly a sex scandal does take up a lot of the oxygen in the news cycle. but as of now, president obama and congress still very much focused on the fiscal cliff and averting that financial crisis that's looming at the end of the year. right now, president obama is set today to kick off a series of meetings today with liberal and labor leaders. tomorrow he'll meet with business leaders. friday he's scheduled to meet with the top democrat and the top republican in the house and the senate. so that is expected to go ahead as planned. it really has to. this is a looming crisis that needs to be taken care of. there's another issue and that may have to do with president obama's afghanistan policy. questions about how this latest development with general allen could impact that.

is the top u.s. commander in afghanistan at this critical time as president obama figures out how to wind down those 68,000 combat troops that are in afghanistan, that are scheduled to come home, by 2014. the thing is, though, zoraida, general joseph dunford, who is already slated to replace allen is having a confirmation hearing on thursday, the same day that allen was supposed to have his. that is going ahead as scheduled. >> all right. brianna keilar live at the white house for us. thank you very much. and also new this morning, the fbi at the home of paula broadwell, petraeus' mistress. agents were seen last night taking pictures. they were carrying boxes, and they were going through both floors of the house. the fbi declined to comment on what they were doing at that home in charlotte. tom fuentes, a former assistant director at the fbi, he is now a cnn contributor, and he is joining us this morning. thank you so much mr. fuentes for joining us. i'd like to begin -- >> thank you for having me. >> i'd like to begin with general allen, if the fbi referred the case to the defense

department does that suggest to you that they don't actually see criminal charges here? >> well, it suggests that they only see something that's going to be internal to military, potentially military violations, as opposed to criminal conduct that could be prosecuted in regular criminal court. or security breaches that are also -- would be a violation. so, you know, it would appear that it's strictly an administrative or military matter and that's why they would refer it. >> could we see the next step to that where there could potentially be criminal charges? >> well, there could potentially. they're going to let the army investigate it, and determine what they can find and how they want to proceed, whether it's charges are unfounded, or whether it turns out that they want to have a court-martial or refer it back to the fbi, that would remain to be seen. but the first appearances are that the fbi is going to let the army go ahead and handle it. >> i want to get your perspective on something that we've been talking about this morning. 20,000 to 30,000 e-mails between

general allen and kelley. this is over the course of two years, i believe, so that's about 19 e-mails a day. these are inappropriate communications that are being investigated. what do you think is in those e-mails? >> well, i hate to speculate. to send that many e-mails to somebody over that long a period, if that's what we have, it really makes you wonder how he would even have the time to do it. and the motivation to do that from afar. from being in afghanistan, or out of the u.s. that's just very difficult to speculate exactly how you generate that many. i can't imagine generating that volume. >> that number seems really, really high to us. we saw that the fbi was at broadwell's house last night. what do you think they were looking for? they searched both floors of that house. >> well, apparently they would be looking for either documents or material on her computers that would be inappropriate for her to have. either illegal or improper or

classified material. so somewhere in the recent sometimes the fbi would have received new information alleging that she has some material that she should not be in possession of and would have obtained a search warrant to go ahead and search her house again to determine what she might have in there. so that would be based on new information that we really don't have specifics on at this point. >> all right. tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director and a cnn contributor. thank you so much for your insight this morning. appreciate it. >> you're welcome, zoraida. >> really so much going on here. one of those stories you get the sense if you blink or step away for a moment there's going to be another alarming development. >> 20,000 to 30,000 e-mails. when you look at two years, 19 a day, you got to wonder. >> and the investigators were at her house again last night, makes you think they're still looking for something. 39 minutes after the hour. cold, hungry and fed up. people in the shadow of the bright lights of midtown begging for power and losing patience. more than two weeks after sandy. we will go live to disaster zone in queens next. [ female announcer ] born from the sweet monk fruit,

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there is a whole lot going on this morning. soledad o'brien joins us. >> so much ahead this morning on "starting point," from afghanistan to washington, another u.s. general now caught up in the petraeus sex scandal. general john allen, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, under scrutiny for some communications with a woman who was the one who sparked the investigation into general petraeus. the web doesn't stop there. so what does this breaking scandal mean for congress and the white house? more things to do on taxing and spending decisions. we're going to talk about the fate of the fiscal cliff. plus he's a pioneer of the

internet anti-virus software. he's now wanted in questioning for the murder of a longtime friend. new details in this bizarre search for john mcafee. that's ahead this morning at 7:00. >> don't go away. >> the tip -- >> there will be developments by 7:00. new ones, trust me. >> thank you, soledad. >> 44 minutes past the hour. thousands of people in new york city and long island now entering, if you can believe it, week three without power. after superstorm hurricane sandy. and anger is boiling over, especially at lipa. that's the power company that serves long island and the hard-hit far rockaway in queens. over a lack of power and answers. listen. >> i can't get a light on for my kids. i can't get power, heat, garbage, i have nothing? >> all we need is help. i'm a taxpayer. i don't get this. i pay my mortgage. i do the right things. i don't take from the government. but i need -- i need the government to help me now.

>> we go to bed at night, shivering wearing tons of clothes every single night. we have not seen one lipa truck come down my block. not one. i have not seen any on any of these blocks. >> cnn's victor blackwell is live in belle harbor, queens, where they are trying to clean up from one disaster. and i understand they are remembering another one. >> they are certainly remembering another one. yesterday was the eleven-year anniversary of the crash of american airlines flight 587 in his community. that was just two months after the 9/11 disaster. several members of this community, who were firefighters, who were cops, died in 9/11. five people here on the ground died after the plane crashed. 260 on the plane died, as well. and now you have this destruction from superstorm sandy. the flood kept people in their homes, the fires here forced them out. people had to rescue their neighbors. you see the cars are melted. the homes burned to their

foundation. there are about a dozen homes here on 130th, beach 130th in belle harbor that look like this. they have seen this before. and we know from the community that they are survivors. >> i'm a survivor. i used to work in saudi arabia until the war broke out. and then i went home. i ran back to the old country, i'm from the philippines. and then the volcano erupted. i'm a survivor. and then the plane crash over here across the street, two months after september 11th. >> the people who lost their homes here, their problems obviously greater than a locals of power. but there are still about 19,000 people who are serviced by lipa who do not have power. we know from lipa that the problems there are not with the grid. the problems, according to lipa, according to governor cuomo, are with the structures. with the businesses. with the homes. that they cannot safely give

those customers power. zoraida? >> so as we were heading into your piece we saw incredibly frustrated people who don't have power, which we completely understand three weeks after. what's the plan for them, if they're having these problems with the grids? >> well, what the governor says is that they will have to fix whatever the problem is with their structure. with their home. with their business, before lipa can safely give them power. it would just be too dangerous to give power to a structure that could then start another fire and put more homes and more people in danger, zoraida. >> wow, that's really tough. since they're all recovering from a disaster. victor blackwell, thank you so much for that. we appreciate it. >> 47 minutes after the hour right now. and trapped in a blizzard. two snowboarders wait right now to be saved. coming up, why rescuers know where they are, but can't get to them. [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix.

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all right. 50 minutes after the hour. want to get you up to speed on all the top stories. and there is a lot of news. general john allen, the man who succeeded david petraeus as the top u.s. commander in afghanistan now being investigated in connection with the petraeus sex scandal. the pentagon says the investigation concerns alleged inappropriate e-mails between allen and jill kelley. she is the florida woman who triggered the fbi probe of petraeus. kelley says she got threatening e-mails from petraeus' mistress, paula broadwell. meantime, the fbi paid a visit to paula broadwell's home. this was overnight. take a look. a team of agents spent nearly five hours searching broadwell's charlotte, north carolina home. no word on what they were looking for. an executive shake-up at microsoft.

steven sinofsky, head of the windows and windows live operations has left the company. his departure comes just after the launch of windows 8. sinofsky has been at the -- has been at microsoft since 1989 and was considered heir apparent by many to ceo steve ballmer. so rescuers will continue their search at first light for two stranded snowboarders on mount rainier in washington state. they say they spotted the two men last night but darkness and bad weather forced them away. derrick tindall and thomas deal had to spend a second night on that mountain. they called 911 sunday to report they were trapped in a blizzard. let's go straight to rob marciano. conditions on the mountain have to be tough right now. what can they expect at daylight breaks? >> more snow, more wind. they're at about the 7,000 foot mark. here on the radar you see it filling in. mount rainier right about there. again at 7,000 foot elevation, pretty much all snow, heavy, wet, cold snow, for sure. so they'll be dealing with that. they built a snow cave so they certainly have some survival

instincts and training and likely will do okay as long as the rescue crews, and there's a couple dozen of them that are helping out here, will be able to get up there and find those guys and get them down to safety. all right. looking at rainfall. a little bit less severe than out west. but certainly rain nonetheless, with a pretty strong cold front that's pushing across the northeast. you see some snow mixing in across the adirondacks. cold enough on the backside of it bringing some lake-effect snows across the great lakes. kind of cold, miserable, damp day. one of those all-day, leaves are wet, see your breath, goes right through you. just dress for it. it will cause a little bit in the way of air travel delays at the new york airports. laguardia, specifically. maybe over an hour because of low ceiling. same deal, rain and wind in boston. philadelphia, d.c. metros, also, and charlotte, will have some issues. west of there we're looking okay. rains from yesterday, in chicago, detroit, moved out, looking at high pressure, good stuff. so cal looking good. there's your pacific northwest. the rain and the wind will

continue, although blizzard conditions of yesterday might not be as severe today, thanksfully. 50 degrees the high temperature in seattle. up on the mountain, temps around 25 degrees. yeah, so that's chilly stuff. but, so far so good. you go back country, riding, and you're hopefully prepared for the worst. these guys seem to be. >> i hope so. i hope it's good news. thank you so much, rob. today's best advice still coming up. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common.

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alriwoah! did you get that? and...flip! yep, look at this. it takes like 20 pictures at a time. i never miss anything. isn't that awesome? uh that's really cool. you should upload these. i know, right? that is really amazing. the pictures are so clear. kevin's a handsome devil that phone does everything! search dog tricks. okay, see if we can teach him something cool. look at how lazy kevin is. kevin, get it together dude cmon, kevin take 20 pictures with burst shot on the galaxy s3.

welcome back. 57 minutes past the hour. >> as always, we wrap it up with best advice. here's christine. >> today we hear from the host of the travel channel's man versus food, adam richman. >> so good advice. my mom always had a copy of the poem the desiderata hanging up in our house, and i read it a lot but it didn't really land on me until i became an adult. it's good classically amidst the noise and haste which i think is good advice in and of itself. but there's a line that says never compare yourself with others for there will always be greater and lesser people than yourself. so i think that was particularly good advice. >> go placidly amidst the noise and haste. >> good advice from a guy who eats crazy amount of foods.

i ate stupid hot wings once with adam richman. and i won the challenge. >> you won? >> i mean i passed it. >> you didn't die or pass out. but they were hot wings. >> they were stupid hot as labeled. that is all for "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" starts right now. our starting point, breaking news to start with. a twist in the bombshell petraeus scandal. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, general john allen, is now being investigated for his relationship with a woman who triggered the original probe. find out how an fbi agent investigating the situation is under investigation himself, and might be in trouble for his own alleged misconduct. plus the feds paying a late-night visit to petraeus' mistress paula broadwell. who else is involved? how deep does this go? cnn has this story covered with correspondents at the pentagon this morning, at the white house this morning, and in beirut, a